Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

Conducting commercial arbitrations under the auspices and rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) has many advantages. For large disputes, involving claims of $1 million or more, these advantages can be most fully realized if certain provisions, supplementing the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules, are adopted. These supplemental provisions can be incorporated in the arbitration clause when the contract is originally being negotiated and drafted. All or most of them can also be agreed on when a dispute has first arisen and arbitration is initiated.

This article explores these desirable supplemental provisionsstarting with three simple additions to the model AAA arbitration clause-in light of actual AAA administrative practice. Its thesis is that the investment, at an early stage, of the time and effort needed to obtain agreement on these supplemental provisions will return very large benefits in any actual arbitration of the large, complex commercial case.